The Importance of Validation

We have just returned from Melbourne after a two-day validation workshop with our TAA training team. From the very beginning, I was reminded of the importance of having many heads and many eyes on the job.  We have some new resources which are going live later in April and the workshop was designed to iron out the kinks and ensure that everyone had buy-in to the changes/improvements. We also needed to confirm that the marking guides and trainer support kits were up-to-date and ready to use. I found it to be a very dynamic process as it proved the old adage of "TEAM" - Together Everyone Achieves More! We had great success by having a combination of lead-assessor driven validation, together with small group project work.  This is something I would definitely recommend for internal validation within RTOs. Essentially, the mix of structure and collaboration supported lively debate, creative problem solving and ultimately better resources. The more we use those at the front line of our training and assessment, the more we will learn about the successes and challenges of implementation. It was great to have input from so many of my team this week. Decisions about what happens in the classroom, should include those from the classroom and not just the boardroom.